Pacquiao vs. Marquez: Why Pac-Man vs. Marquez Will Only End in Knockout

The last two fights have been extremely interesting slug-fests that went 12 rounds.  The third time around this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will end before 12 rounds due to knockout.

The highlights of the last two fights were four knockdowns by Manny Pacquiao, three in the first and one decisive knockdown in the most recent fight.  This time around will be much different and both fighters know why.

After fighting their hearts out in 2004, Juan Manuel Marquez and Pacquiao ended up with a draw.  They got their money, but after a grueling boxing match like that they want the taste of victory. 

The second fight ended with a split decision which brought about a lot of mixed emotions from numerous people who had scored the fight with Marquez winning it.  These two fighters do not want to leave it up to the scorecard again, especially Marquez.

Marquez feels he beat Pacquiao, not once, but twice.  And Pacquiao just wants to put to rest the idea that Marquez had beat him.  The only way to settle this third and final fight between the two with no questions is a knockout and I think we will get one.

First of all, both fighters are very capable of getting a knockout.  Marquez has 39 knockouts in 53 wins and Pacquiao has 38 knockouts in 53 wins. 

Recently though, the two fighters have went up in weight class and we've seen a lot of knockouts from Marquez who lost to Floyd Mayweather, but no one else in six fights since his loss to Pacquiao.  Along the way to winning five of those six fights, Marquez got the knockout in four of them.

It's a similar tale for Pacquiao who has fought seven times since his last match with Marquez, winning them all with four coming by knockout.  The last three fights for Pacquiao did not result in knockouts, but he has been fighting in the welterweight and even super welterweight divisions seriously battering larger opponents. 

This fight will also be fought in the welterweight division where Marquez is not thought to be as comfortable as he is at lightweight and below.  Still, the fire he has to defeat Pacquiao will lure him to throw some heavy punches looking for knockout. 

The aggression I expect to see from Marquez will either result in a knockout of Pacquiao, or more likely result in a very composed Pacquiao knocking out the elder Marquez when his excitement gets him out of position.

I believe Pacquiao is much more adept at fighting in the welterweight division and will hit Marquez with some very devastating punches leading to knockout, but Marquez has the same opportunity to get there first. 

One way or another they will be fighting their hearts out again in what should be another classic slug-fest, it just won't be 12 rounds this time.